Who is in charge here?? USFSA take charge!!

Today I read Evan Lysacek's remarks that Johnny Weir, as not being "best of the best" did not deserve to tour with Stars on Ice. ???? Obviously SOI thinks Johnny is expendable - (most perplexing considering the mediocre - in elite skating terms - talent padding up most of the tour stops.) There seems to be no question that Evan and Johnny are the current top two US skaters. Later I read that Johnny completed the unsavory exchange by publicly calling Evan a rude and insulting name.

Now I read that Evan is flying around the country on free flexjet flights, which are transferring him between his, I'm sure, very lucrative DWTS and SOI gigs. We're probably talking in excess of 50K for each coast to coast trip.

The inequities and favoritism that I see in the figure skating world worry me. Most of it seems to be corporate driven (Smuckers making decisions that smack of discrimination in deciding who gets to skate in public and take advantage of the one existing US tour -- Flexjet deciding to favor one athlete with free coast to coast private jet flights).

In my opinion the USFSA needs to take control, set some standards and protect its athletes. What are the rules that should govern proper competitor conduct - especially public contacts with the media ? What commercial and sponsorship activities are appropriate for competitors? What sort of role should outside corporations have in the sport?

Corporations - Smuckers, for example, seems to be more influential than the USFSA - including control of communications to the mass audience. I'm thinking specifically of Scott Hamilton and his SOI alumni sidekicks Bezic and Wilson controlling the Olympic figure skating broadcasts.

I'm an outsider looking in. I have no personal knowledge of any of the participants and do not skate myself though I am a fan. But perhaps my viewpoint is valuable in providing feedback on how these events look to an outsider.

To me, the starting point and biggest problem is the invalidation of Johnny Weir's right to skate in a public tour - first because he was the only Olympian SOI left off the SOI cast list, and second Evan's public repudiation of his right to skate with SOI. SOI is the only current US tour and is the USFSA's "promotional" partner, marketing the USFSA and US skating during the tour. It has responsibilities that go beyond a private enterprise to treat the US skating team fairly and to represent the sport appropriately.

SOI should throw in the towel, and despite the bad blood that has built up over the last few months, invite Johnny to skate with the tour. Also, Evan and Johnny should publicly apologize to each other. These activities should be brokered by the USFSA, which has to retake control of its sport, publicly and privately.

I don't see why Flexjet's decision to fly Evan between SOI and DWTS should warrant USFS involvement. Evan and Johnny have been sniping at each other for years; USFS is doing well in resisting the temptation to generate a fortune for itself by framing one for whacking the other.

SOI is a private company. As such, they have the right to hire talent as they see fit. Unless they have some sort of contractual obligation with USFS that requires them to take on all US Olys team members... which they do not... They are just as welcome to hire Stephen Cousins as they are to hire Johnny Weir. Conversely, the USFS has no say in who SOI can and cannot hire.

The USFS also cannot control what Johnny and Evan say in public. They can advise them and train them - and they do - but they can't control them.

And IMO, it's interesting that the type of sniping and etc. that's commonplace in other sports, in skating is considered outrageous. Compared to what I've heard men in other sports say about competitors, Evan and Johnny's sniping is quite mild.

You seem to not understand what corporations do or the laws and conventional wisdom governing business. You also don't understand what the USFSA's role is, which is not to be some all-powerful wizard controlling every aspect of skating and skater's lives - they are an organization of volunteers whose mission is to advance the sport. Go to Governing Council this week and most of the bigwigs will tell you they don't give a hoot who was asked to be on SOI or got which endorsement deals as long as the general public pays more attention to figure skating.

The USFSA controls rules of competition and testing, skaters access to and participation in int'l comps, skater development, awareness of the sport and skaters, etc. They do not control private sponsorships (although I believe eligible skaters are required to file a form if they are paid to skate in a tour, but that is just for admin purposes and to ensure the activity is sanctioned by USFSA) or tours. Second, yes, SOI and the USFSA have a cross-promotional partnership, but that does not give the USFSA control over who gets invited to the tour nor does it obligate SOI to do anything, unless it's written in the contract. I suppose the USFSA could have made specific demands on SOI like that, but the negotiations would have stopped right there - this is business, not kindergarten. "Fairness" does not sell tickets or pay skater salaries.

Evan's Flexjet sponsorship deal is the decision of Flexjet (is that the co name?), a private corporation. Private corporations get to hire/sign contracts with whoever they want. The deal was brokered for Evan by Evan's agent. It has nothing to do with favoritism or Evan vs Johnny or the USFSA. The reason why Evan is getting endorsement deals is b/c he won the OGM. Any OGM is going have advertisers lining up to be able to use the athlete's name to sell products, b/c the athlete is more visible than, say, the 6th place finisher. Duh.

Sure, SOI has power and leverage - they operate a skating tour, they get to hire who they want. Skating in a tour (or any job, really) is a privilege, not a right.

The USFSA provides media training to skaters insofar as it benefits the USFSA. They want skaters to answer questions and say witty things in news conferences and interviews to get more people writing and reading about skating. But they have no control over what skaters say. Obviously, skaters realize the nature of the sport (subjective judging) and know that if they make inflammatory statements, they might not be TPTB's favorite. But the fact that John Baldwin (and Johnny) have managed to be a staple of Nats medal podiums and World teams for quite a few years would indicate that skating perfoemance still wins out. But if the skater makes an @$$ of himself publicly too many times, they may not get the privilege of skating in a national tour, b/c the private organization running the tour won't want to hire @$$es. Imagine that.

But if the skater makes an @$$ of himself publicly too many times, they may not get the privilege of skating in a national tour, b/c the private organization running the tour won't want to hire @$$es. Imagine that. :rolleyes

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Especially a company like SOI, who have said (if I am recalling correctly) that they hire, in part, based on fit to their organization. They tour together, spend hours and hours per day together in close quarters, and work as a team. One of their priorities is having skaters who will fit within the existing group. If some skater has a rep for being difficult to work with or extremely high maintenance, then they probably won't get hired.